Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

December 29, 2021

Most Censored in Indian Country 2021



Most Censored in Indian Country 2021

By Brenda Norrell, publisher

Censored News

The most censored issues in Indian country in 2021 include the death of Paiute Shoshone Journalist Myron Dewey; the kidnappings and assassinations of Yaqui in Sonora; the Mohawk Mothers demand for the search for residential school childrens' graves at a former CIA torture research site in Montreal; the failure of the Navajo Nation to distribute $2 billion in federal virus relief to Dine' in desperate need; and the destruction of O'odham sacred places on the Tohono O'odham Nation by Israel's Elbit Systems for the construction of spy towers for use by the U.S. Border Patrol.

Dewey became known around the world during the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock, as a journalist and drone operator. On the day before his death, in his Paiute and Shoshone homeland, Dewey live streamed at the Navy's bombing range at Fallon, Nevada.


"I am a survivor of a mass genocide across the United States."

Pointing out that genocide is being carried out around the world, he said, "In Nevada it is still fresh."

Dewey also drew attention to the lithium mining targeting Thacker Pass in northern Nevada at a Paiute Massacre Site. At the time of his death, a secret deal was underway for new lithium mining in Nye County where he died. Lithium is among the false green solutions, needed for electric cars, which corporations are rushing to profiteer from.

Facebook shut down account

On October 21, after publishing an article detailing the police reports of the vehicle crash that resulted in the death of Dewey, Facebook locked the Censored News publisher out of her account. The Facebook account remains locked.

The Nye County Sheriff's Department released the traffic crash reports from both the Sheriff's Department, and the Nevada Highway Patrol which is stamped "draft," on Oct. 20.  

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2021/10/nye-county-sheriff-releases-myron-dewey.html


Mohawk Nation News
https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/

Mohawk Mothers: Mohawk children were victims of torture studies at Allan Memorial Institute, at McGill University, in Montreal

Mohawk Mothers are demanding that unmarked graves of residential school children be protected at McGill University, home to the psychiatric hospital Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal, Canada -- operated by the Canadian government and the US CIA.

Mohawk and other residential school students were victims of horrific torture and mind control studies.

Mohawk Mothers Statement: https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2021/10/mohawk-mothers-tell-mcgill-dont-mess.html


A historical photo from 1900 provided by the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan shows Catholic priests with students at the St. Michael's Indian Residential School in Duck Lake, Northwest Territories, now Saskatchewan, Canada.

The torture, abuse and murder of children in residential schools in Canada and boarding schools in the United States continues to be among the most censored issues in Indian country.

Thirteen years ago, Russell Means, Lakota, and Kevin Annett, released this list of unmarked graves at residential schools, in 2008.

Censored News republished the list in 2021 as graves were located.

The list has been updated and includes the testimony of numerous survivors, who as children were victims of electric chairs and rape, and witnessed children thrown out of windows and plummeting to their deaths, in the schools.

Native children with tuberculosis were in rooms with well children in order to spread the disease. Many children starved to death or with used in medical experiments. Children who ran away often died trying to make it home. If they were captured and returned to these prison schools, they were beaten, tortured and jailed in basements in solitary confinement.

Canada created a law, mandating the kidnapping of Native children who were then incarcerated in residential schools. The schools were operated by the Catholic Church, other churches, and the Canadian government.

Location of Unmarked Graves Published in 2008 at Censored News:

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2021/06/location-of-mass-graves-at-residential.html



Yaqui Water Protector Tomas Rojo Brutally Assassinated

Tomas Rojo, Yaqui water rights leader in Vicam Pueblo, Sonora, Mexico, in the original Yaqui homeland, was kidnapped in May and brutally assassinated.

Tomas was a Water Protector and leader in the long struggle to protect Yaqui River water from the Independence Aqueduct, an aqueduct stealing Yaqui River water for the City of Hermosillo.

Our Censored News video interview with Tomas in Vicam Pueblo, during Vicam's Water Rights Forum, is re-shared.

The Traditional Authority of Vicam Pueblo led highway blockades on a main highway for years to protest the theft of their water. Earlier, the Traditional Authority also hosted the Zapatistas in 2007 who supported their efforts to protect their land and water.

Despite ongoing kidnappings and assassinations of Yaqui south of the Arizona border, there has been little support or media coverage from north of the border.

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/11/video-yaqui-foro-internacional-del-agua.html


Families demand return of 10 men kidnapped from Yaqui Bacum Pueblo.

Bacum Yaqui Traditional Guard Kidnapped and Disappeared During Gas Pipeline Resistance

The kidnapping of 10 Yaqui Traditional Guards of Bacum Pueblo, south of the Arizona border in the original homelands of the Yoeme (Yaqui), was among the most censored in 2021.

Families said the Mexican military planted drugs in their community in an attempt to disarm the traditional guard. Then, 10 of the men were kidnapped when they went to get a cow for a traditional feast.

Families said the location of remains by the Mexican government is not credible.

Bacum Yaqui have waged a lengthy battle against a gas pipeline.

The Mexican President evicted the families of the kidnapped men from the gathering revealing his 'Justice Plan.'

 https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2021/10/mexicos-president-ignores-and-ejects.html


Israel's Elbit Systems desecrated O'odham sacred places while constructing spy towers on the Tohono O'odham Nation. Photo copyright Ofelia Rivas, published with permission.

Israel's Elbit Systems Desecrates Sacred Places, Constructed Spy Towers on Tohono O'odham Nation

The border spy towers -- integrated fixed towers -- were constructed on the Tohono O'odham Nation by the Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems, over the objection of traditional Tohono O'odham who oppose the desecration of sacred land.

The spy towers contract to Elbit Systems was issued by the U.S. government, and approved by the Tohono O'odham Nation government.

Elbit Systems, known as the "Merchants of Death," is responsible for Apartheid security in Palestine. Elbit is currently protested in the UK and globally for manufacturing drones used in assassinations, and for torture and human rights violations in prisons.

The Gu-Vo District on the Tohono O'odham Nation has opposed this proposal from the beginning.

Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham and longtime founder of O'odham Voice Against the Wall, exposed the spy towers and the desecration of O'odham sacred places during construction of the towers in 2021, in a series of articles at Censored News.

Gu-Vo, in the westernmost district of the Tohono O'odham Nation, told the United States, "The Gu-Vo District opposes these proposed tower sites to protect cultural sites on the holy mountain now called the Ajo Mountain Range."

"The mountain holds human remains of our people and also places of our cultural practices (medicine bundles) home and home of the ceremonial deer and bighorn sheep and mountain tortoises that are protected under the Endangered Species Act."
 
Spy Towers Used for Stalking by U.S. Border Patrol

U.S. Border Patrol agents use the surveillance from the towers to stalk the most vulnerable O'odham, including children, women and elderly.
 
The surveillance is viewed on U.S. Border Patrol agents' laptops.

The Tohono O'odham Nation and Pascua Yaqui Nation are within the Tucson Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol. Three U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector are now charged as serial rapists.

Whistleblower Jenn Budd, former senior U.S. Border Patrol intelligence officer, documents the "rape culture" within the Border Patrol.

Numerous U.S. Border Patrol agents have been charged with drug running, and serving as spotters for drug cartels, on the Arizona border. The arrests -- in remote areas like Sasabe, and urban areas like Yuma -- can be found easily with a web search, but the majority of the media fail to report the arrests.

Dine' volunteer Mercury Bitsuie raises his own funds for relief. Bitsuie, Uncle Andy Dann, and family and friends,  delivered food and water to fellow Dine' on Black Mesa, in Sanders, Arizona, Navajo, New Mexico, and in surrounding Navajo communities on Christmas. Photo courtesy Mercury Bitsuie. 

Navajo Government Ignores Most Desperate Dine' as Coronavirus Spreads: Fails to Distribute $2 Billion in Federal Virus Relief

The Navajo Nation government -- Navajo Council and President -- has failed to distribute the $2.1 billion in federal virus relief funds to Dine', that was received from the American Rescue Plan in May of 2021.

Dine' volunteers continue to raise their own funds and distribute water and food to isolated elderly, and those too weak and sick to haul water and travel for groceries.

As the year 2021 comes to a close, isolated Dine' in the 110 chapters in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, are in need of water, food and home health care. The coronavirus recently spread, with up to 100 new cases each day.


Photo courtesy Bitahnni Wilson
Dine' volunteer Bitahnii Wilson said, "K'e Native Action received a call to deliver to two different households that are infected with Covid-19 and have to remain in quarantine they requested for emergency food assistance. The Baha’i Local Spiritual Assembly of Gallup has purchased the food for these two  families and we gathered it all up and delivered it to these two families. Thank You all for your donations for the food and much needed cleaning supplies." Bitahnni, family and friends delivered new water barrels filled with water to Navajo and Hopi during 2021.

Meanwhile, the Navajo Nation government invested in more mining -- while there was uncontrollable spread of the coronavirus in 38 Navajo communities in November. Dine' were in desperate need of running water.

Sanostee, New Mexico, Dine' gathered to protect their sacred mountain from new helium mining planned by the Navajo Nation Council in December.

COVID 19 in Navajo Bordertown Businesses

The media failed to report, and advise, Navajo and other residents of the constant spread of coronavirus in the bordertown of Farmington, and San Juan County, New Mexico. Throughout the fall of 2021, the virus spread through nursing homes, schools and businesses.

Life Care nursing home, already sued for neglect and failed care, and the WalMart on Main Street in Farmington reported the largest numbers of cases, according to daily data reports from the State of New Mexico. Today, December 29, 2021, the Life Care nursing home reports six new cases.

In the bordertown of Gallup in McKinley County, New Mexico, the media was silent about the spread of COVID19 among employees at Walmart, and in schools, eateries and building supply stores during 2021.

The states of Arizona and Utah, where the Navajo Nation is also located, does not list daily updates of coronavirus cases. The New Mexico State data is at: https://www.env.nm.gov/rapid-response-data/


Native Attorney Tara Houska Shot with Rubber Bullets and Jailed: Line 3 Pipeline Resisters Shot in Face by Enbridge Pipeline's Sheriffs' Deputies in Minnesota

"People were shot in their faces. I saw a young woman's head get split open right in front of me," Houska said.

During the brutal arrests, Sheriffs deputies shoved and smashed Water Protectors faces down into the dirt. At least 20 Indigenous water protectors were arrested in Minnesota over the weekend during protests against the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline.

"The level of brutality that was unleashed on us was very extreme," Houska said.

Read article: https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2021/08/native-attorney-tara-houska-shot-with.html


Indian Country Targeted for More Mining

 Lackluster U.N. Climate Summit 3, 

COP26 -- Infested with Oil and Mining Companies -- Floundered in Scotland

In 2021, mining corporations in Canada and Australia led the attacks targeting Native ancestral lands in the United States. 

San Carlos Apache maintain their resistance to Resolution Copper's plan to desecrate Ceremonial land at Oak Flat with a copper mine in Arizona. The federal courts continue to fail to protect sacred lands from mining.

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2021/10/apache-stronghold-native-religious.html

Western Shoshone Ian Zabarte describes how the United States has failed to honor the Treaty of Ruby Valley, as ancestral lands at Yucca Mountain continue to be targeted for nuclear dumping, in this long cycle of nuclear holocaust and atomic bombing, in what is called Nevada.

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2021/11/western-shoshone-ian-zabarte-treaty-has.html

Hualapai are protecting their ancestral land from planned lithium mining west of Flagstaff, Arizona.

Lithium mining requires vast amounts of water and is destroying pristine regions of plant and animal habitat globally. The demand for lithium for batteries for electric cars is a false green solution, resulting in a rush for corporate profiteering.

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2021/11/prayer-walk-protect-hualapai-water-from.html

Read more:

Paiute Shoshone Myron Dewey Killed in Head-on Collision

While Paiute Shoshone Myron Dewey livestreamed from the bombing range of his childhood homeland in Yomba, in the Nevada desert on Saturday, September 25 -- the day before he died in a car collision on Sunday -- people around the world were reading of another exposure of the military in the Nevada desert.

It was the fact that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was targeted for kidnapping, and possibly assassination, by the CIA. Wikileaks exposed the fact that drone pilots at Creech Airforce Base in the Nevada desert had their fingers on the kill trigger, and were assassinating people around the world, without trial or jury, including children and news reporters, in reckless assassinations based on failed military intelligence.
Read the article at Censored News:


Torture experiments at Allan Memorial Institute, Montreal

Wikipedia: Project MKUltra (or MK-Ultra) was the code name of an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[1][2][3] The experiments were intended to develop procedures and identify drugs such as LSD that could be used in interrogations to weaken individuals and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture. MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects' mental states and brain functions, such as the covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, electroshocks,[4] hypnosis,[5][6] sensory deprivation, isolation, and verbal and sexual abuse, in addition to other forms of torture.[7][8]

MKUltra was preceded by two drug-related experiments, Project Bluebird and Project Artichoke.[9][10] It began in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964 and 1967, and was halted in 1973. It was organized through the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence and coordinated with the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.[11] The program engaged in illegal activities,[12][13][14] including the use of U.S. and Canadian citizens as unwitting test subjects.[12]: 74 [15][16][17] MKUltra's scope was broad, with activities carried out under the guise of research at more than 80 institutions, including colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies.[18] The CIA operated using front organizations, although some top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA's involvement.[19]

Montreal Gazette: The search for unmarked graves at McGill University, home to Allan Memorial Institute torture research:

Grave Robbers and Thieves: Elbit Systems Spy Towers on Tohono O'odham Nation by Ofelia Rivas

Yaqui Tomas Rojo Assassinated


About the author

Brenda Norrell has been a reporter in Indian country for 39 years, beginning as a reporter at the Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She served as a correspondent for Associated Press and USA Today, covering federal courts and the Navajo Nation. After serving as a longtime staff reporter for Indian Country Today covering the Southwest, she was censored and terminated in 2006. She created Censored News to reveal what is being censored.

Norrell has a masters degree in international health, focused on infectious diseases, water and nutrition.

After creating Censored News, Norrell traveled with the Zapatistas in Mexico, broadcast live on the Longest Walk in 2008 from coast to coast for five months, covered the Mother Earth Conference in Bolivia in 2010, live streamed the Boarding School and Indigenous Peoples Summits from Oneida, Wisconsin, and reported from the southern border region.

Now in in 15th year, Censored News has no ads, grants, salaries or revenues, and is a collective of writers, photographers, broadcasters and translators who work without pay.


Article copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News, may not be republished or used in any manner without permission. brendanorrell@gmail.com

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